An Evening at the Skokie Kollel

I feel I now have a second home in Skokie, Illinois. When I went to do an event there for the Skokie Kollel, last Monday, I was given the warmest welcome I’ve ever had. The women of the entire community packed into the beautiful kollel building. I totally enjoyed working with the rabbis who run the kollel as well as Tami & Barbra, the pair that chaired the event. They were fantastic and we have become fast friends. My assistants for food prep were Sharon Matten (a culinary celeb in her own right), Debbie and Rebbetzin Rosenberg. We worked so well together! All150 women who attended enjoyed a superb tasting, if I do say so myself and couldn’t stop thanking me. I was blown away by their intense appreciation. I’ve been in a lot of places, folks, but I have never experienced anything like this. Listen, when your day starts at 3:30 am to catch a flight, and you spend the whole day cooking, preparing and doing a program until 10:30 pm, you really relish a word of thanks.

So you want to know what I served that evoked such praise? You can check out the entire menu here, but one of the stars was one of my favorite recipes from my new book, Quick & Kosher Meals in Minutes– Asian Chicken Salad -- which was developed around a bottled dressing that I particularly like. That’s a huge stretch for me because I don’t go for most bottled dressings. But Asian Carrot Ginger from Wafu is different.

Apparently, it’s the best-selling dressing in Canada. Who new Canadians had such good taste? (Just kidding, just kidding.) Unfortunately it’s not distributed widely in the US. So we called up Wafu and asked them to gift a case to one lucky winner. If you happen to be unlucky and don’t win this contest – you can use a recipe I created for homemade Asian Carrot Ginger Dressing. If you still want a shortcut (which I totally understand), you can pick up any other Asian style dressing, ginger or tamari, or peanut Thai in a bottle and it will still work wonderfully with this recipe. Believe me, I have tried them all.

So thanks Skokie, thanks Wafu and thanks to all my new friends – may we continue to enjoy Asian Chicken Salad and other wonderful goodies together!

***CONTEST DETAILS*** For your chance to win a case of assorted Wafu Dressings (Kosher Certification is the MK) please leave a comment below telling us your favorite Kosher Asian Dish. One winner will be chosen at random from qualified entries. Contest ends Friday June 10 2011 at 9 am EST. Contest is open to Canadian and US Residents only.